Consider a couple of scenarios for big trouble at Oroville Dam: First: The facility’s main concrete spillway suffers serious damage, resulting in erosion of the rock beneath it — and potentially threatening the safety of the dam itself. Second: Water fills Lake Oroville, the gigantic reservoir behind the dam, and begins surging down a steep […]
Federal disaster officials have agreed to chip in $22.8 million to help California pay the estimated $500 million cost of the Oroville Dam crisis. Victor Inge, a spokesman for the Federal Emergency Management Agency, said Wednesday that the reimbursement is to cover some costs associated with the emergency as well as for removing the massive […]
California’s Tulare Lake was once the largest body of freshwater west of the Mississippi River. Located at the southern tip of the San Joaquin Valley, it collected snowmelt from dozens of Sierra Nevada streams. Today, the giant lake is long gone: In the decades after the Gold Rush, it was drained and transformed into farmland. Now, […]
Workers have been laboring hard to get the spillway at Oroville Dam fixed in time for the winter rainy season. There has been intensive construction to repair a hole in the spillway, as well as to shore up the dam’s emergency spillway with a new underground retaining wall. The state Department of Water Resources, which […]
Thanks to a stormy winter, California’s long drought is over says state government. But California’s man-made drought will continue as long as Sacramento misallocates our water supply. Maybe it’s time to appeal to a higher but distant authority. When Gov. Jerry Brown declared in April that the six-year “drought emergency is over,” he didn’t seem […]
Ten states from Nevada to Texas have weighed in to support two water agencies in their fight with an Indian tribe over control of groundwater in the California desert. The states filed a brief Monday before the U.S. Supreme Court, which will soon decide whether to take up an appeal by the Desert Water Agency […]
Panel Weighed Oroville Spillway Failure in 2014 — and Called It Unlikely
/in California and the U.S. /by Mike Lee /KQED News (San Francisco)by Dan BrekkeConsider a couple of scenarios for big trouble at Oroville Dam: First: The facility’s main concrete spillway suffers serious damage, resulting in erosion of the rock beneath it — and potentially threatening the safety of the dam itself. Second: Water fills Lake Oroville, the gigantic reservoir behind the dam, and begins surging down a steep […]
Trump Administration Sends Payout for Oroville Dam Crisis. Could More Be On the Way?
/in California and the U.S. /by Mike Lee /The Sacramento Beeby Ryan SabalowFederal disaster officials have agreed to chip in $22.8 million to help California pay the estimated $500 million cost of the Oroville Dam crisis. Victor Inge, a spokesman for the Federal Emergency Management Agency, said Wednesday that the reimbursement is to cover some costs associated with the emergency as well as for removing the massive […]
Plan for San Joaquin Valley Reservoir to Recharge Groundwater Draws Concern
/in California and the U.S. /by Mike Lee /News Deeply (New York)California’s Tulare Lake was once the largest body of freshwater west of the Mississippi River. Located at the southern tip of the San Joaquin Valley, it collected snowmelt from dozens of Sierra Nevada streams. Today, the giant lake is long gone: In the decades after the Gold Rush, it was drained and transformed into farmland. Now, […]
OPINION: Oroville Dam Repairs Are Just The Start
/in California and the U.S. /by Mike Lee /San Francisco ChronicleWorkers have been laboring hard to get the spillway at Oroville Dam fixed in time for the winter rainy season. There has been intensive construction to repair a hole in the spillway, as well as to shore up the dam’s emergency spillway with a new underground retaining wall. The state Department of Water Resources, which […]
Congress Takes an Important Step to Prevent Future Droughts
/in California and the U.S. /by Mike Lee /Fox and Hounds Daily by Kerry JacksonThanks to a stormy winter, California’s long drought is over says state government. But California’s man-made drought will continue as long as Sacramento misallocates our water supply. Maybe it’s time to appeal to a higher but distant authority. When Gov. Jerry Brown declared in April that the six-year “drought emergency is over,” he didn’t seem […]
10 States Back California Agencies in Fight with Tribe Over Groundwater
/in California and the U.S. /by Mike Lee /The Desert Sun (Palm Springs)Ten states from Nevada to Texas have weighed in to support two water agencies in their fight with an Indian tribe over control of groundwater in the California desert. The states filed a brief Monday before the U.S. Supreme Court, which will soon decide whether to take up an appeal by the Desert Water Agency […]